The eighth Building Physics Conference was held at Tampere Hall as usual. The building physics research group of the University of Tampere organised the event for the second time in cooperation with the Real Estate Education Centre Kiinko. As a result of global crises and rising interest rates, the construction industry is currently in severe financial difficulties. This has also been reflected in the arrangements of this year’s building physics conference, but despite everything, this traditional event was once again successfully organised. The three-day conference had almost 500 participants and 51 partners.
The conference days were divided into themes related to different topics in a familiar way. The topics of the first day were related to the design and implementation of building physics, the thermal and moisture engineering of structures, and new instructions. On the same day, the results of computational analyses of building physics as well as laboratory and field research were also presented. On the second day, the traditional focus was on moisture and mould problems in buildings, their prevention and indoor air quality. Presentations on the conditions, management and law of the properties were also heard. The theme of the third day was natural and low-carbon construction, adaptation to climate change and acoustics. All in all, 91 speeches were heard at the conference, which is the same as before the coronavirus period.
Four keynote speeches were heard at the conference this time as well, and for the first time, all of them were given by foreign experts. On the opening day of the conference, Tuesday, the keynote speech was given by Professor Jan Carmeliet, currently the world’s leading building physicist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and Kristina Mjörnell, Head of Business and Innovation at RISE (Research Institute of Sweden) in Sweden. On Wednesday, Michael Lacasse, one of the leading researchers in North America, gave a keynote speech at the National Research Council in Canada. Thursday’s keynote speaker was Associate Professor Andy Shea from the University of Bath in the UK, who currently works there as the director of the Digital Net Zero Energy Systems Laboratory. You can find out more about the keynote speakers on the conference website from this link.
The award for moisture-safe construction was awarded for the sixth time in connection with the conference. This time, 23 competition entries were nominated for the prize, of which six entries that the jury considered to be the most meritorious will be presented in a session of the winning candidates. The award for moisture-safe construction was awarded to the presentation presenting the latest edition of the RIL 107 manual and to the working group that wrote the manual.
The presentations of the keynote speakers can be downloaded as pdf versions:
Keynote 1: Professor Jan Carmeliet, ETH Zurich, Switzerland: Changing urban climate and impact for inhabitants living in the built environment. Do we have to adapt or mitigate for climate change?
Keynote 2: Adjunct Professor Kristina Mjörnell, Research Institute of Sweden, Sweden: Efficient use and adaptive reuse of buildings
Keynote 3: Michael Lacasse, Senior Research Fellow, National Research Council, Canada: The Importance of Building Physics to Life Cycle Assessment
Keynote 4: Associate Professor Andy Shea, University of Bath, UK: The future of low-carbon and nature-based building construction
Here you can see pictures of the event.